book fastpass+ at midnight?

JourneysEnd

JourneysEnd

Well-Known Member
SosoDude said:
Yep. I was only able to score 1 fast pass for 7DMT for our 7 day trip, but I'm cool with that. Everything else was wide open as far as I could tell. This was my first experience with FastPass+ , and wasn't sure what to expect. It went great, with no problems.
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Were you at 60 days or 30? That ride is hard to get.
 
habuma

habuma

Well-Known Member
I've done this a couple of times before without any hassle, but maybe someone here can help me clarify *precisely* the timing of when FP+ opens up.

In the past, I've assumed that it opens up at midnight, 60 days out from checkin (yes, assuming that you're staying property). This has always worked out for me. But now I see things about 1 hour after park closing, etc. So...Can the rule be summed up as "Either 1 hour after park closing or midnight, whichever is latest?" Does park closing mean regular park hours or do EMH and special events count?

For example, I'm available to make selections on October 16th. The MK closes at 7pm on the 15th for MNSSHP, which ends at midnight. and Epcot closes at 9pm with EMH until 11pm. So...what time does FP+ open up for me?
  • Midnight, October 16th?
  • 1am, October 16th?
  • 10pm, October 15th?
My guess is Midnight, October 16th...But would hate to miss out on some hard-to-get FPs because I misunderstood the rules and wasn't signed in and ready earlier.
 
Minnesota disney fan

Minnesota disney fan

Well-Known Member
I don't know about you, OP, but I think staying up til midnite or setting the alarm and getting up just to make FP selections seems stressful to me. I like to think of a vacation as not being so regimented that I "have" to get up at odarkhundred to get fp's for the most popular attractions!!! Oh well. I just made our fp's for mid November and got up at the regular time and had my coffee, waited for the brain cells to wake up, and only then did I get online and make my fp's. A & E was gone, but we aren't interested in them (we're in our 60's:)
The parades were gone, even the daytime parade. Again, not interested in fp for these. We watched the daytime parade from Liberty Tree Tavern last trip and saw it all without a fp. No interested in the others at this point. What surprised me was that Primeval Whirl was gone too???? What? primeval Whirl???
So, I guess depending on what you want, you don't have to get up at the stroke of midnite. It seems that even if you do, the prime ones are gone. I got all that I wanted, even tSM, by booking them in the AM after coffee:)
It just seems crazy for a system to require their guests to make coveted reservations for fp's at midnite?! I don't understand it, nor will I get up to do that. I can understand families with children who love A&E, but it seems ridiculous that anyone has to jump through these hoops just to get 3 fp+'s! IMO.
 
habuma

habuma

Well-Known Member
Minnesota disney fan said:
I don't know about you, OP, but I think staying up til midnite or setting the alarm and getting up just to make FP selections seems stressful to me.
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I get where you're coming from, but having done it a few times already, it's really not that bad. And, I've never had trouble getting what I want. I've even offered to help some friends set their's up at midnight, with only an occasional hiccup in the plans.

Of course, I live in the central time zone, so midnight == 11pm for me, and I'm usually up that late anyway. Based on your name, I suspect it's 11pm for you, too. That said...

Minnesota disney fan said:
The parades were gone, even the daytime parade. Again, not interested in fp for these. We watched the daytime parade from Liberty Tree Tavern last trip and saw it all without a fp. No interested in the others at this point. What surprised me was that Primeval Whirl was gone too???? What? primeval Whirl???
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I'm not sure if things have changed, but the parades used to not show up as FP+ options until closer to the checkin date...roughly 2 weeks or 10 days until checkin. Of course, this may have changed since I last messed with setting up FP+ for parades (I don't waste FP+ on parades or nighttime shows any more).

Primeval Whirl...yeah. That's an odd one. I was helping someone setup their FP+ recently and noticed the same thing. I almost never see a long standby line for Primeval Whirl, so I don't bother with a FP+ for it. But for FP+ to be gone seemed weird to me. It's almost as if there was a glitch in the system or if they reduced the availability. I don't know.

Minnesota disney fan said:
So, I guess depending on what you want, you don't have to get up at the stroke of midnite. It seems that even if you do, the prime ones are gone. I got all that I wanted, even tSM, by booking them in the AM after coffee:)
It just seems crazy for a system to require their guests to make coveted reservations for fp's at midnite?! I don't understand it, nor will I get up to do that. I can understand families with children who love A&E, but it seems ridiculous that anyone has to jump through these hoops just to get 3 fp+'s! IMO.
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For the most part, getting your FP+s at midnight only matters for A&E and 7DMT (and Primeval Whirl, apparently). You can get most everything else the next morning. But I'm not much of a pre-planner kind of person and yet I don't mind staying up late (gonna be up late anyway) and making sure I snag those. My girls will definitely want to see A&E and we all enjoy 7DMT. Plus the options for everything else might be a bit better. But if A&E and 7DMT aren't in your plans, then sure...get to bed early and take care of it at breakfast.
 
sxeensweet

sxeensweet

Love a little Disney every day!! ;)
habuma said:
I get where you're coming from, but having done it a few times already, it's really not that bad. And, I've never had trouble getting what I want. I've even offered to help some friends set their's up at midnight, with only an occasional hiccup in the plans.

Of course, I live in the central time zone, so midnight == 11pm for me, and I'm usually up that late anyway. Based on your name, I suspect it's 11pm for you, too. That said...



I'm not sure if things have changed, but the parades used to not show up as FP+ options until closer to the checkin date...roughly 2 weeks or 10 days until checkin. Of course, this may have changed since I last messed with setting up FP+ for parades (I don't waste FP+ on parades or nighttime shows any more).

Primeval Whirl...yeah. That's an odd one. I was helping someone setup their FP+ recently and noticed the same thing. I almost never see a long standby line for Primeval Whirl, so I don't bother with a FP+ for it. But for FP+ to be gone seemed weird to me. It's almost as if there was a glitch in the system or if they reduced the availability. I don't know.



For the most part, getting your FP+s at midnight only matters for A&E and 7DMT (and Primeval Whirl, apparently). You can get most everything else the next morning. But I'm not much of a pre-planner kind of person and yet I don't mind staying up late (gonna be up late anyway) and making sure I snag those. My girls will definitely want to see A&E and we all enjoy 7DMT. Plus the options for everything else might be a bit better. But if A&E and 7DMT aren't in your plans, then sure...get to bed early and take care of it at breakfast.
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Primeval Whirl is being refurbished for a long period. See link below that was announced on here in August. That may be why they don't have the FP+ available for it in the future months until they know when it will open back up for sure. I know it will be closed while I am there in Mid- late Oct. Not supposed to be open until mid November again. :)

http://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions...-a-3-month-refurbishment-later-this-month.htm
 
habuma

habuma

Well-Known Member
sxeensweet said:
Primeval Whirl is being refurbished for a long period. See link below that was announced on here in August. That may be why they don't have the FP+ available for it in the future months until they know when it will open back up for sure. I know it will be closed while I am there in Mid- late Oct. Not supposed to be open until mid November again. :)

http://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions...-a-3-month-refurbishment-later-this-month.htm
Click to expand...

Ah...that makes sense. I didn't connect the dots.
 
Mukta

Mukta

Well-Known Member
habuma said:
I've done this a couple of times before without any hassle, but maybe someone here can help me clarify *precisely* the timing of when FP+ opens up.

In the past, I've assumed that it opens up at midnight, 60 days out from checkin (yes, assuming that you're staying property). This has always worked out for me. But now I see things about 1 hour after park closing, etc. So...Can the rule be summed up as "Either 1 hour after park closing or midnight, whichever is latest?" Does park closing mean regular park hours or do EMH and special events count?

For example, I'm available to make selections on October 16th. The MK closes at 7pm on the 15th for MNSSHP, which ends at midnight. and Epcot closes at 9pm with EMH until 11pm. So...what time does FP+ open up for me?
  • Midnight, October 16th?
  • 1am, October 16th?
  • 10pm, October 15th?
My guess is Midnight, October 16th...But would hate to miss out on some hard-to-get FPs because I misunderstood the rules and wasn't signed in and ready earlier.
Click to expand...
These days people are saying it is midnight EST regardless of park schedules.
 

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